LG 55LM9600 3D LCD HDTV HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 4,134:1

The above 2D result was obtained in the Expert1 Picture Mode with the Backlight on 32, the Contrast on 75, the Brightness at 53, the Gamma on 2.4, and the LED Local Dimming on High. The peak-white level for the above reading was 28.9 foot-lamberts, and the black level was 0.007 ft-L. The differences between the LED Local Dimming control’s High, Medium, and Low settings were small but visible on some material. But with local dimming off, the full-on/full-off contrast ratio decreased markedly to 876:1 (35 ft-L peak white, 0.04 ft-L black).

The Color Tracking charts show how well a display adheres to the D65 standard white point; the closer the three primary colors’ levels, the nearer the result is to D65. The Pre-calibration results were taken in the THX Cinema Picture Mode. The Delta E results for this mode were middling at best, with a low value of 1.29 at 20 percent brightness, a high of 5.6 at 100 percent, and an average of 2.94. Post-calibration, in the Expert1 mode (the calibration controls are not available in the THX modes), the only values above 1.0 were 1.8 at 90 percent and 3.6 at 100 percent, with an average Delta E of 0.81. (Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the result is to the Rec. 709 HD standard, with any Delta E below 3 generally considered to be excellent and visually indistinguishable from perfect.) For 2D, the two-point White Balance adjustments did most of the work; only minor tweaks were used from the 20-point option.

Pre-calibration, the THX 3D Cinema mode averaged a poor 9.7—although it looked much better than that number suggests. The Post-calibration gray scale for 3D (not shown) had a Delta E average of 0.74 in the 3D Expert1 mode. For this result, I needed only the two-point adjustments.

The Post-calibration 2D color gamut, as shown in the CIE chart above, was very accurate, with an average color Delta E of 0.77 (green was the least accurate at 1.99). The 3D color gamut (not shown) was nearly as impressive, with an average color Delta E of 1.44 (blue was the least accurate at 3.12).

At a 2.4 Gamma control setting, the 2D gamma averaged 2.00, with a minimum value of 1.88 at 80 percent brightness. The 3D gamma in the same Gamma setting averaged 1.96. A low gamma can make the image look flat and washed out; that was not the case here—but we would like to have been given a wider range of more accurate options.—TJN

I just wanted to thank you for the calibration settings. I have the 8600 and these settings significantly improved my picture quality particularly with movies. I tried a couple of different professional settings and these are by far the best.